A Very Buggy Problem
by Sundiel260
Summary: Webber doesn't know how to feel being a human and… not human. He doesn't mind it! Really! Not one bit! … okay maybe a little. But at least he knows he's not the only strange being in this world! The Elementals, sworn protectors of the Earth and its inhabitants. The four of them are very powerful and strong, capable of handling dangerous creatures and mystical oddities.


It was a nice day out. That should have been the first warning sign as he walked across the sandy beach. He forwent putting any shoes on his feet this trip as footwear only hurt with each step he took. If Wickerbottom had caught him walking out without any protection on his feet again, he was sure to get an earful of another one of her lectures.

The thought of her lectures alone sent shivers down his back, despite the warm air of the ending summer and his sweater keeping him warm. He knew she only did it out of love. Pap-Pap had made it clear with a few of his own lectures when he was younger, reassuring him that he did it all out of love and worry for his protection. He still favored Pap-Pap's lectures than Wickerbottom's though.

Besides, it was nice to walk across sand without any footwear. He liked the feeling of sand against his feet and between his toes. It was nice and soft, and it was fun to kick around on a good day. Digging his toes in, he kicked his legs out, sending sprays of grain in the air. Grinning, he continued to kick up the sand, watching it rise up and fall to the ground. A tiny giggle rumbled in the back of his throat, kicking out his leg one more time.

Glancing up, he could see his destination in sight. It wasn't hard to miss the one story high building due to the large fish eating a Popsicle mounted on its roof. Wickerbottom usually complained how the sign was inaccurate of a real fish and emphasize how it would never eat a Popsicle or wear shades in the wild. He thought it was pretty neat.

Pulling out a small sheet of paper from his pocket, he glanced at just one more time before nodding his head and headed for the door. The chime of the bell hung above the door rang as he pushed open the door, taking in the sight before him.

Everything was sparkling clean, wiped down from the tables to the glass containers that held frosted treats that Wolfgang liked to chow down on a lot. Stands filled with sugars lined at one side of the shop's walls, while the other side had cold treats and drinks of various flavors held in small coolers. Standing behind the counter was lanky teen with dark blond hair with the right side of her head completely shaved off. She wore the logo-emblazoned shirt with black slacks. What was most interesting was the dragon tattoo on her left arm that stuck out from under the shirt's sleeve. He always felt like its eyes were watching his every move.

Glancing up from her phone by the sound of the bell, she gave a warm smile once she saw who had entered the shop. "Hey Webber! Another 'mighty snack attack'?"

"Hi Milly. Yeah, Wolfgang ate all the month's supply of food… again." Webber grinned, getting to work on gathering everything written down on the paper.

Milly let out a small laugh, slapping her hand down on the counter. "That's the third-no, _fifth _time he's done that this past two months! That dude is like a black hole! Or an endless pit!"

Webber shrugged, grabbing his usual bag of chocolate chip cookies and went over to the drinks, waiting quietly for the other store worker to move. This employee had a bit more muscles under his uniform, though still rather lanky. He wore the same outfit as Milly, but he had a more eye-catching look. The knees of his slacks were torn through, metal bands were pierced on the bridge of his nose, his lips were covered in black lipstick, and thick rings covered each finger of each hand. The sole single eye that Webber could see through the thick dark hair was focused on the screen of his phone, tapping away at something.

Webber waited patiently for them to move so he could get to the cold drinks. He began rocking on his heels and humming to himself until Milly slammed her fist on the counter, making both Webber and the other employee jump. "Jarred! Move your butt away from the drinks already!"

Jarred blinked, looking over a Milly with a deep scowl. "Hey! Keep your socks on! Nobody's waiting for me to move!"

"Umm…" Webber raised one hand up, tapping Jarred's leg gently. The teen stiffened a moment before looking down. Immediately, the teen let out a startled yelp, jumping back against the freezers and clutching his chest. Webber frowned, waiting for Jarred to get his breathing under control before speaking again. "Can I please get to the drinks?"

Jarred stared at Webber a moment longer before sighing rather loud, _and rudely_, before moving aside. "Yeah, yeah. _Creepy bug kid._"

One of Webber's mandibles twitched, hearing the quiet remark but remained quiet as he grabbed the cold drinks. "Everything looks like it's been restocked recently. Did you guys get a new stuff?"

"Not quite." Milly shrugged, leaning on her hand. "Just had to put more of the usual stuff in the usual places. Oh! But, uh, there is _one_ thing that didn't get restocked recently."

Webber twitched his head, glancing over at the nervous teen. Milly's eyes were nervously glancing at a certain stop of the store, which Webber followed her gaze at. His eyes landed on a space dog themed freezer, the same one that Webber was about to go over to and grab his favorite treat from, until he noticed a sign tapped on the door.

_SO PAWRY, DISCONTINUED_

"_Noooooo!_" Webber cried in alarm, dropping the snacks and racing over to the dog themed freezer. "_Not Space Puppy's Sundaes!_" He wailed, hugging the mini fridge as closely as he could. "_How could this happeeennnnnn?_"

"Sorry little dude." Milly went over to the distressed child, patting his back gently. "I was bummed when I heard the news too. Space Puppy Sundaes were half bad."

Over at the far side of the shop back on his phone again, Jarred scoffed. "Space Puppy? Good riddance! That stuff was worse than cherry soda!"

Milly shot her coworker a hard glare, which Jarred only responded with a shrug. "You're only saying that because the kid from yesterday kept singing the theme song over and over."

"I'm just saying what's true."

Milly rolled her eyes before turning back to Webber, rubbing her hand up and down along his back. "Everything's going to be okay Webber. Things like this happen all the time."

"But why to Space Puppy?" Webber, eyes full of tears, asked. "What did he ever do to deserve this?"

"Who knows?" Milly shrugged, picking up the items Webber had dropped and set them on the counter. "Like I said, things like this just happen. Tell you what though, since they were your favorite, how about you take a sundae for free?"

"You can't do that."

"Like you would stop me."

Webber sniffed, rubbing his eyes. "R-Really?"

"Of course! You're, like, the _only _person—"

"_Spider freak is more like it_."

Milly glared, reaching down and taking one of her heavy boots off before chucking it right at Jarred's face. "The only _customer_ who nearly comes in on a daily bases. Plus, from one Space Puppy fan to another, think of it as an act of condolences for our fallen hero."

Sniffing, Webber looked at the little freezer. The cheery decorations smiled back at him, with Space Puppy smiling with a sundae in one paw while giving a thumbs up with the other paw, winking at him. With a sad sigh, Webber nodded his head, and took out one of its frozen treats.

* * *

"I'm back!" Webber called out, closing the door behind himself with one foot as his arms were occupied holding bags full of snacks. Hearing no one greeting him back, he shrugged, heading over to the freezer and started putting away the treats. He paused after putting away the last soda, looking down at the frozen treat in his hands.

The Space Puppy Sundae. One of his favorite cold treats. Webber frowned sadly, rubbing a thumb over the cold surface. How in the world did Space Puppy get discontinued? There was nothing wrong with the sundae. He had plenty of Space Puppy Sundaes for years, it was one of the best things in the world!

But now his favorite cold treat was going to disappear forever. Thinking about it made the crushing sadness in Webber's chest grow.

_"__I know it'll be hard at first Webber, but it'll get better over time." Milly gave a small sad smile as she rang up the snacks. "Things like this just happens all the time, even to the best snack foods in the world. There used to be this hot chocolate ice cream with a marshmallow gooey center that I used to eat all the time, but one day they discontinued it! I never found out why, and I was pretty sad for a while, but slowly I started to accept it, and the pain went away. I still get a little sad about it time to time, but it doesn't hurt as it used to. Besides, I've moved on to different snacks now. Maybe you'll find a different snack that you like just as much as Space Puppy Sundae."_

_I don't think there will be anything to replace Space Puppy. _Webber thought sadly, twisting the sundae in his hands. He moved to put it the freezer, but paused. _If Wolfgang finds this in here, he might eat it before I do. And if this really is going to be my last Space Puppy Sundae…_

Pulling the sundae to his chest, he grabbed a spoon from the drawer and quickly headed up to the loft just on the other side of the room. Jumping through the sheets, Webber landed on his bed, crawling up to his favorite corner to sit at and popped open the lid. Digging his spoon in, he scooped out a good size of the sundae and popped it into his mouth. The cold bit into his tongue, and Webber shivered with delight as the flavors danced around his mouth.

Smiling, Webber dug into the frozen treat, swaying his head as he hummed the Space Puppy theme song. Half of the sundae was gone when Webber turned his head to look outside…

… and found four pairs of eyes staring back at him.

He stared at the creature staring back at him. He looked at the eight eyes. White. No pupil. No iris. Just the white of the sclera. Two large white eyes sat in the center, with a pair of smaller eyes on the left, right, and just above the larger pair. Black fuzzy thin leg-like mandibles stuck out from the head, two on each side that were either curled up or hung lose. Fangs poked out from the creature's lips, with a large canine on either side of the spoon in its mouth. A blue hand knit sweater stood out against the black fuzz of its body, along with the jeans.

Webber frowned, and the creature mirrored him.

_I'm not _that _freaky looking._ Webber thought bitterly, looking down at his hands. He flexed his fingers, clenching and unclenching them, being mindful not to clench his hand too hard so that the claws at the end of each finger didn't break his semi-hard skin. He made a mental note to ask Wickerbottom to help him file his claws again.

_Milly isn't scared of me. Pap-Pap doesn't scream when he sees me._ Webber pulled the spoon out of his mouth, looking in its reflection. _Sure I don't look like a normal boy, but everybody else thinks I look just fine._

Sighing, Webber put the sundae aside, setting his elbows on his knees and leaned his head against the palms of his hands and stared out the window. He really shouldn't be so bummed out by Jarred's mean comments. He _had_ heard worse before, but Webber just wished that the teen was just a bit nicer. To him and nearly everyone who talked to him.

Now that he thought about it, Jarred was rude to everyone Webber had seen him interact with. Everyone except Miss Wickerbottom that is. Whenever she came along with Webber on a mighty snack attack run, the teen quickly coward and hid himself the moment he saw the old woman. Webber never knew why, and Milly didn't have any information either. That left Miss Wickerbottom herself, and Webber did **not** want to ask her. Well, he _could_ ask her, but he didn't want to be rude and pry on any information she didn't want to share with him.

_"__You're still rather too young to learn these things Webber. Maybe when you're a bit older we'll be able to tell you."_ Wickerbottom's voice echoed in the back of his mind, the same old stern but sweet tone she spoke with each time he wanted to know more about anything regarding to the—

The mandibles twitched, slowly spreading out as their hairs stood up on end. Webber's eyes widened, jumping off the bed and hopping down the stairs two by two and jumping off the last one, standing in the center of the room and listened carefully.

The twitchiness of his mandibles increased, jerking slightly with their hairs fuzzing out. Webber turned his head towards the loft. No change. He turned towards the kitchen. No change. He looked at the front door. No change. He then looked at the direction of The Door.

Everyone told him to stay away from the large elegant stone carved door, for safety reasons as The Door didn't give any warning when it was going to open up. The Door was carved into a stone wall. But that was all it was carved into. A wall. About ten feet in height and length and a width of seven inches thick. Webber had walked around the wall many times, studying its front and back, but never finding out how it worked. Wolfgang had tried to explain how it worked once, but it only confused the poor boy and Miss Wickerbottom refused to explain anything about it.

The twitching didn't change.

Frowning, Webber gazed downward, and when that didn't change either, he looked up. His mandibles went straight out and spazzed out of control. Webber's eyes widened with alarm. Not by his mandibles, but by the growing yelling that was coming from the ceiling just seconds before the wood burst outwards, sending sprays of splinters and wood chips everywhere.

Webber jumped out of the way as a large screaming mass crashed down through the spot he was standing seconds ago, landing with a resounding **_thud_** that was powerful enough to shake the house beneath the floorboards. Dusting off the bits of wood from his fur, Webber went over to the hole in the ground, remembering Wickerbottom's lectures about not to get too close, and peered down.

A large man, roughly the size of an ox, was wrestling with a pair of worm-like creatures. The worms snapped and wrapped around the man, trying to bring him down while the man just laughed, deep and hearty, as he punched and slammed his fist against the creatures' snouts.

"Hi Wolfgang." Webber called down, waving his arm to get the big man's attention.

"Ah-ha! It's tiny warrior bug! Hello!" Wolfgang smiled at Webber, sending another punch at one of the worm's trying to bite his face. "Wolfgang will be a moment! Need to take care of nasty worms first!"

Wolfgang gave a mighty roar, grabbing the worms and throwing them off him. With a whoop, he grabbed the nearest worm's tail, lifting it up and slamming it down on the other worm. "Ha ha! You three are no match for Wolfgang!"

"Two."

Wolfgang looked back up at Webber "What?"

"Two. There's only two worms, not three." Webber pointed out. Wolfgang glanced at the worm's, counting them and, _yes_, there was only two. Not three.

The large man scratched his head. "Huh. Wolfgang was sure he was fighting three. Where did—_Webber look out!_"

Webber froze as something wet hit the back of his sweater, along with a deep hiss. In a mere second he rolled out of the way from a large jaw snapping at the air, rolling to his feet and running towards the door. An angry hiss followed him.

Wasting no time, Webber burst through the door, running down the stone steps with the worm close behind him. _Should have grabbed my spear!_ Webber thought as he jumped over a fallen tree and beeline for the beach.

He was only a few feet away when the worm got in his path, stopping him from going any further. Webber could stare up in alarm at the beast, getting a good look at it as it growled down at him.

Its skin was covered in thick hard scales that stuck out, matching the color of deep dirt and floral coverage. Sharp thin teeth stuck out from its open maw, dripping with a purple saliva filled with deadly toxins, as evident from the few drops that landed on the ground, shriveling the grass away. On its head was a thin antenna with a hanging false apple on the end.

_Forest Worms_. Webber recalled as he stared in alarm as the best hissed, opening up its maw and lunged at him. Webber let out a short scream, covering his head and waited for the beast to bite down on him.

Before that could happen, a strong sudden gust of air pushed Webber aside, lifting him up a few feet before setting him safely on the beach. Five of his eyes blinked in surprise, hearing the worm scream in pain behind him.

Looking back, Webber saw Miss Wickerbottom, using her power to lift the worm with a mini-tornado, looking displeased at the creature. Frowning, Webber stood up and started walking towards the older woman, but stop as she help up a single hand, signaling him to wait. With a flick of her other hand, the worm went sailing through the sky, making a wide arch before landing on a rock head first. Even from the far distance, Webber still heard the sickening _CRACK_.

"There. That takes care of one worm." Wickerbottom huffed, turning towards Webber. "Now then, are you alright? Did the worm get you anywhere?" She reached over and patted Weber down, looking for any signs of injuries on the boy.

"No, I'm fine." Webber smiled, happy that Wickerbottom had come in the nick of time.

Nodding her head once she was sure Webber was alright, she stood back up to her height, looking around. "Where's Wolfgang?"

Webber opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of a door breaking off its hinges behind Wickerbottom. The pair looked back up at the house, seeing Wolfgang come running out.

"Don't Worry Tiny Warrior Bug! Wolfgang Will_—_oh." The large man came to a stop, spotting Webber standing next to an unhappy Wickerbottom. Webber waved at Wolfgang as Wickerbottom crossed her arms and glared at the large man.

"… Wolfgang sees that strong Brain Lady has things under control." Wolfgang chuckled, stepping back a few steps. "Is good, yes? Wolfgang will head back and—"

"What. Where. You. _Thinking?!_" Wickerbottom shouted, stomping up to Wolfgang. Even though Wolfgang was a foot taller than her, the large man shrunk back in fear as the older woman began scolding him. "Jumping from that height! Wrestling _three_ Forest Worms?! You're lucky enough that you've managed to keep your form young man!"

Wolfgang cringed as Wickerbottom continued to scold him. Webber felt a little bad for the large man, but there was no way he was going to step in and help. No one was safe from a Wickbottom scolding.

"And you made _another_ hole in the ceiling! Do you know how hard it is to keep rebuilding the house on near weekly basis?! Not to mention you could have landed on Webber! And he isn't like either of us!" Webber's mandibles twitched, feeling a pit form in his stomach. "He's not a full Elemental like us! He's not made of stone or air!"

The pit eased away somewhat. Not fully, but it was enough to ignore and focus on something else. Webber decided to focus on the two Elementals standing in front of him. He may have seen them for years ever since he was younger, but he was still amazed by the sheer looks they had.

He focused on Miss Wickerbottom first, mostly due to her clothing rather than her features. Her clothes were, in a certain way in Webber's mind, very_ flowy_. She wore a dress that hugged her body at the top, but remained open and lose past her hips. The dress flowed down in ripples and layers of see-through fabric, all ranging from a light sky blue to pure white and soft gold, all surrounding a silk dark royal blue with gold trimming and designs that covered Wickerbottom's legs completely from view.

The upper half of the dress was the same dark royal blue with gold designs, but her shoulders were covered with some sort of armor padding, same with her elbows, that had wind circling a triangle with a line going straight across near the top etched into the plating. Around Wickerbottom's neck sat a pendant with the same triangle symbol on her armor.

Wolfgang, big and strong and confident, didn't share the same look as Miss Wickerbottom. He wore nothing on his top half, showing his off thick muscles and often saying how he didn't need to have anything on his upper half save for the belt that was strapped over his right shoulder down to his left hip. The only thing her wore were dark brown pants, thick heavy looking boots, metal wristbands, and the belt. The wristbands with old looking, almost ancient and heavy, with the same triangle symbol that Wickerbottom had on her armor, but was etched upside down. Same with the center of the belt.

Both of them looked human enough, aside from the fact that Wickerbottom's skin was a light neon blue and Wolfgang was a dark grey like stone.

"You can't just keep jumping off from high places and expect to be alright! What if you landed on something? What if you landed on some_one_?!" Wickerbottom huffed, pinching the bridge of her nose as Wolfgang looked down in shame, pressing his pointer fingers together. "By the ancients, I swear, you are the most reckless Elemental of the team! Stars! Even Wes has more common sense than you, and he's the _weakest!_"

Wolfgang lifted his head, smiling weakly. "But… Wolfgang _didn't_ land on anyone. Which is good, da?"

Wickerbottom let out a slow huff mixed sigh, nodding her head after a while. "Yes, I suppose you didn't. But that's still not an excuse to be reckless! I mean, who else besides you just falls out of the sky fighting Forest Worms and expecting to win?"

There was a loud **BOOM** behind Webber, and everyone turned to look at the beach. A large Forest Worm, about the size of a large house, laid sprawled on the sand. Its head was caved on, like it had been punched by a heavy mallet. Or a power punch from a gauntlet.

Webber smiled brightly, throwing his hands up. "WINTER'S HERE!"

"Webber, don't shout." Wickerbottom chided him lightly, stepping past him. "And stay with Wolfgang. This must by the mother Forest Worm, so we can't be too careful. It may look defeated but it most certainly-" Wickerbottom continued speaking, though at this point, Webber had tuned her out.

"Sooo." Wolfgang spoke up, catching Webber's attention. "Help Wolfgang patch up small house before Winter sees mess, yes?"

* * *

"Why are there Forest Worms here? Don't they usually live in thick jungles and forests?" Webber asked, ducking his head at the doorway as Wolfgang stepped inside the house. The large Elemental shrugged his shoulders, shaking Webber a bit since he was riding on them.

"Wolfgang is sure that worms live where were worms should live. But worms sometimes leave places they should live in to go to places they shouldn't be. Winter says that worms only leave places because they look for food and cause destruction along way." Wolfgang plucked Webber off his shoulder, setting him down on the floor gently. "Is not good for weak humans, yes? Elementals usually not bothered by worm move unless worms attack humans. And Elementals swore to protect weak humans'"

"I guess." Webber looked at the room, surveying the damage and frowned. "How are we going to fix this place up before Winter gets here?"

Wolfgang laughed heartedly. "Easy! We cover hole! Out of sight, out of knowledge yes?"

"Don't you mean, out of sight, out of mind?"

"Is just the same thing yes?" Wolfgang shrugged, grabbing the couch with one hand and placed it over the hole. The floor gave a small groan and half of the couch went into the hole. "… cover with blanket?"

Rolling his larger set of eyes, Webber went up to his loft, taking down the sheets that separated his room and handed it to Wolfgang. They were only four blankets in before Miss Wickerbottom entered the room, spotting the large pile of blankets on the floor and a small section of the hole Wolfgang stood by with a blanket in his hands. The large man froze, then gave a weak smile and waved.

Then realized he was holding the blanket to cover the remaining bit of the hole, and hid it behind his back.

Wickerbottom frowned. "Is there a reason why there's a hole in the floor?"

"Hole? What hole? Wolfgang sees no such hole!" Wolfgang stood, puffing his chest out (while quickly putting down the last blanket and covering the last bit of said none existent hole). "Does tiny warrior see hole anywhere?"

Webber opened his mouth to reply that he didn't _see_ any holes, but before he could utter a word out, a plank of wood fell from the air, landing on the blanket pile and making a large notable ditch in the blankets. The trio stared at it for a moment before turning their gaze upward. "… Well, there's one in the ceiling."


End file.
